No money down, no risk and unlimited profit! Would you need
to be sold on such an opportunity, if it did exist? It would sell itself. Any
skeptical investor, though, would view such a sales pitch with derision, having
undoubtedly been burnt by similar ones in the past. Such an investor would also
want to know the reason why such an opportunity would exist in the first place.
For an arbitrage sales pitch to succeed, it has to be accompanied by a reason
for its existence and here are a few:

áNo
one else knows about it (yet): This is the pitch to the truly gullible. Every great
investment opportunity has to be discovered by someone and that someone
conveniently happens to be you. Why the person who discovered this opportunity
would share this news with anyone and why you should be the lucky recipient of
this largess may not be explained to you but as with any con game, you are made
to feel special.

áIt
takes special skill to find it and you can acquire it (cheap): This is the sales pitch for the investor who want to
pay something, but not very much, for that ÒfreeÓ lunch. If you acquire the
special skill (which may be a book, software or mantra offered by the purveyor)
for a price, you will be able to establish a clear advantage over other
investors in the market.

áIt
will last only a short time (and you have to make up your mind quickly); It is true that markets sometimes make mistakes and
that these mistakes can lead to arbitrage opportunities for those who happen to
be at the right place at the right time. On this investment, that happens to be
you if you act immediately.

áIt
will work only for investors with specific characteristics (and you have them):
This is perhaps the most effective of the
sales pitches because it has the best chance of being true. If you are different
from other investors (you have lower transactions costs or a different tax
rate), you may very well find that what looks like the right price to others
offers riskless profits for you.